And It Felt Like A Kiss
by yestermeyesteryou
Summary: Blaine is a 27 year old teacher stuck in between a bad situation and the return of someone he thinks he once might have loved. Warnings: This story will deal with domestic violence and the issues that can surround such a situation.
1. I was lying in my bed last night

_Disclaimer__: The author of this piece does not, in any way, profit from the story and all creative rights to the characters from Glee belong to their original creators._

_Notes: This is a relatively AU story taking place about 10 years after high school in a different city. Blaine and Kurt never dated in this one, and Blaine is now a teacher. Characters that will make an appearance are: Blaine, Sam, Cooper and Puck, while Mark and Becca are original characters. The person Blaine starts of with in this story is not necessarily the one he ends up with. Eventual 'Plaine'. _

_I was inspired to write this after following the storyline of coach Beiste in the last couple of episodes from season 3, finding them very moving and thought-provoking. _

_At least another two chapters are already written._

_Summary__: Blaine is a 27 year old teacher stuck in between a bad situation and the return of someone he thinks he once might have loved._

_Warnings__: This story will deal with domestic violence and the issues that can surround such a situation. However, nothing is very graphic._

_Update__: Right now I'm planning on completing the story within four chapters. _

* * *

"So, what's your big announcement?"

"Well…We are moving in together."

"Oh my God Blaine, congratulations!" Cooper smiled from ear to ear and dropped the bag of books that had just been handed to him before engulfing Blaine in a big hug.

"Yeah, I'm pretty excited about it. We move my stuff in on Saturday. Not that there's very much to move really since my place is furnished, shouldn't be a lot of work." Blaine smiled back while trying to wriggle his way out of his older brother's arms.

"Well kid, then I should be expecting a dinner invitation to see your new pad on Sunday right?"

"Uhm… let's make it Monday, Sunday would be kind of tight." Blaine laughed.

"Of course, I should know you'll be busy. Ah, to be young again…"

"Hey! First of all, Mark is not that young seeing as he's like three years older than you. Secondly just… shut up!"

"Ok, ok! Take it easy kid!" Cooper took a moment before continuing "You don't think you're moving a little fast though? I mean, you've only been seeing each other for what, like six months?"

"I'll have you know we've been together for 9 months." Now it was Blaine's turn to take a pause before going on "His place is big enough, my cardboard box of an apartment is definitely overpriced and I'm on a teacher's starting salary. Besides, we're always at his place as it is so I'm basically just paying rent each month to store my clothes somewhere which, by the way, would be a lot more convenient to have over at his because my students are starting to notice my recycled outfits. For kids who thought the Titanic was 'just an old movie, right?' they can be surprisingly clever."

"Easy there tiger! Did you practice that little monologue on your way here? Maybe you should have become an actor as well."

"Very funny, no I did not… Besides, he asked me. So I said yes."

"Well kid, don't take my overprotective brotherly love in offence, I'm really happy for you. If you're happy then so am I." Cooper brought his hand up on Blaine's head and ruffled his hair up a bit "Great, now my hand is covered in some kind of superglue."

"Yeah well that's what you get for messing up a guy's do." Blaine grabbed Cooper's arm and pulled it off his head while getting a quick look at his brother's wristwatch "Would you look at that, it's time-to-go-a clock! I actually have some classes to plan which I want to get done before heading over to Mark's so I should bounce home."

"Well thanks for stopping by with the books and congratulations on your big news. And don't be a stranger now, just because you're moving a couple of blocks further away it doesn't mean your big brother should have to hang out with you any less." Cooper squeezed Blaine's shoulder with one hand while trying to wipe away the remnants of gel from the other on the hem of his t-shirt.

"You're welcome, and I promise I won't be a stranger. I'll try to set up something on Monday then." Blaine brought his hand up to Cooper's where it was resting on his shoulder and gave it a little squeeze. "See you later then!" And with that, Blaine was on his way down the flight of stairs leading down from Cooper's apartment.

"Catch you later Blaine!" Cooper shut the door.

* * *

"Honey! I'm in my soon-to-be-as-of-this-Saturday's-new home!" Blaine pulled the strap of his leather briefcase off his shoulder and threw it on the chair standing in the hallway before sliding out of his casual blazer and hanging it on a hook by the door.

"There's my guy, finally. I was beginning to fear you had gotten cold feet and skipped town or something. In which case, you know I'd find you and drag your ass back to where you belong." A tall, laughing figure appeared from the kitchen holding two glasses of red wine. Handing one to Blaine, who gladly took it and had a quick sip, he gave the shorter man a kiss on his forehead. "Here, this one's for you."

"Thank you very much, exactly what I needed." Blaine brought his glass up to connect with Mark's while giving a little "Cheers" before taking another sip.

"Did you get a chance to return those theater books for your class back to your brother?"

"Yeah I did, then I went to my place to plan some classes and I also got a couple of papers graded. Cooper wants to come over for dinner on like Monday by the way if that's Ok with you. How was your day?"

"Of course it's Ok Blaine. My day was way too exhausting and uninteresting to talk about. Let's just say a couple of deals went through and a couple did not. Chinese?"

"Yeah, I'm starving! Let me just jump into the shower, apparently my landlord decided that no one in the building needed warm water today." Blaine kicked of his shoes and made his way down the short hallway "You can order in the meantime if you want, I'll take number 11!" he shouted over his shoulder as he walked into the kitchen while downing the rest of the wine and put the glass on the counter, before continuing to the bedroom as he started unbuttoning his shirt. Mark appeared in the doorframe, watching Blaine get undressed.

"Come to think of it, maybe I'll just have you for dinner." The older man smiled behind his wineglass.

Blaine was down to his boxer briefs as he passed his boyfriend in the door, walking to the bathroom. "As nutritious and appealing as that sounds, I'd love to have a couple of spring rolls before I let you devour me."

Mark followed Blaine to the bathroom door as he chuckled "Oh so you'll let me, now?" gesturing a hand towards himself "Look who's calling the shots all of a sudden! Seems like someone's been getting a little overconfident lately" Mark leaned against the doorway and finished his glass with one big sip before turning his attention back to his boyfriend standing by the sink "Maybe someone needs to be taught a little lesson?"

Blaine laughed and turned around, pushing the taller man out of door "Maybe someone reeks and would love to shower first!"

Suddenly Mark found himself facing the shut bathroom door "Maybe somebody likes you when you're a little dirty!" he shouted while grabbing the phone off the wall and dialing the number he had memorized many moons ago, hearing a faint "Number 11! And get some ice cream while you're at it!" from under the sound of a running shower. "Hi, I'd like to order a 15 and an 11, and which ice creams do you have again?" He walked into the kitchen and pulled the stuffed cork out of the wine bottle before pouring himself another glass. "Great, then I guess we'll have the rocky road."

* * *

"I told you I'd be late, we shouldn't have…" Blaine was attempting to stuff his shirt into his pants while sitting buckled up in the passenger seat of his boyfriend's car. He glanced at his watch before catching his reflection in the side-view mirror, trying his best to smooth back a couple of locks of hair.

"Oh I'm sorry, so this morning when you practically screamed 'fuck me, please don't stop', what you really meant was 'stop fucking me, please stop'? Because this language barrier could eventually get really confusing for me." Mark shot back with a smile from where he was driving the car. The sight of his disheveled boyfriend next to him made him chuckle.

"It's not funny! And I didn't say that…" Blaine retaliated. "Now I didn't even have time to eat breakfast. I can't teach a bunch of fifth graders on an empty stomach, that's a nightmare. I don't have time to go get cash to buy something from the vender either, fuck me…"

"Again? Or is this just you telling me not to fuck you, am I getting a hold on this lingo correctly?" Mark said with a raised eyebrow as the sight of their destination was becoming visible at the end of the road. "There's a 20 in my wallet, why don't you just take that and get yourself a bagel and a coffee."

"Are you sure?"

"Of course kid"

"Ugh, please don't call me that, my brother calls me that." Blaine reached into his boyfriend's pocket and pulled out his wallet, finding the 20 "Thank you." The car came to a halt.

"You're welcome."

Blaine gave his boyfriend a quick kiss on the cheek before getting out of the car, only to reappear in the backseat door to get out his briefcase.

"Hey, what did your father used to call you then? I wouldn't mind it if you started calling me 'daddy'." Mark couldn't say that one with a straight face.

Blaine looked horrified as he was back peeking in through the window by the passenger seat, bag over shoulder and shirt neatly tucked into pants. "You are mortifying me, I work here!" Blaine showed the 20 dollar bill back into the car "Here, I don't need your stupid pocket money, 'dad!'"

"Ooh, I like it!" Mark pushed the wrinkled up bill back into Blaine's hand, whose lips were finally cracking a smile "Don't be silly" The taller man got readjusted in his seat. "Well now I'm running late, come to my place after work?"

"Of course, love you!"

Blaine was just starting leave. "Hey, Blaine!"

"Yeah?"

"Tomorrow it's 'our' place."

"I know." Blaine said, unclear if his face was lighting up from the sunshine that was hitting it or the wave of happiness that rushed through him at the thought.

"Ok, see you tonight 'son'. Love you!" And with that a laughing Mark drove off before Blaine got a chance to object at his use of the term of endearment.

At the coffee-vender in front of the school Blaine caught up with a fellow bagel-buying teacher colleague "Good morning Blaine! Or so it hopefully will be once I've had my dose of caffeine"

"Good morning Sam, and my sentiments exactly, by the way."

"Hey, who was that guy in the car with you? Your dad?"

Blaine sighed while digging for the 20 in his back pocket and muttered under his breath "You have got to be kidding me…"

* * *

Moving in was easy and painless. A van was loaded up with Blaine's belongings, which mostly consisted of books, clothes and a couple of things from the kitchen, and unloaded into the home they now shared together. Blaine was preparing dinner when Mark came home on Monday evening. He heard the door open and shut, a "Hello", followed by footsteps until he felt two strong arms embrace him from behind. "Hello there" he smiled.

"What are we cooking?"

"Well, 'I' am cooking lasagna. You can prepare a salad if you feel like being helpful but I can just do that late… Ouch!" A sharp smack landed on his backside. "Hey! What was that for?"

"That, my friend, is what you get for being a smartass" Mark popped a cherry tomato into his mouth and continued, putting on a southern accent "Now you better behave boy, or I'll have to go get my belt and take you out to the toolshed."

"Promises, promises…" Blaine sighed with a hint of a smile. "Hey, someone called Laura called, she said she wanted to talk to you and it was kind of urgent so you should probably get back to her"

Mark's expression suddenly went stern.

"What?"

"Nothing, I'll call her back, tomorrow. Can you fix me up a whiskey; I need to shower before Cooper and Company arrive."

"Already? Just have wine like the rest of us, it's like six a clock on a Monday."

"Blaine just… fucking do it, ok? I had a rough day. I'm done in ten." And with that Mark disappeared from the kitchen.

Blaine turned to the liquor cabinet, muttering under his breath "What the hell is his problem now…" when a light turned on in his head "Hey! Is Laura your ex-wife?"

Before the bathroom door was shut violently, all Mark had to say was "Don't push it, Blaine." The shower went on. Blaine took a swig of whiskey. "Fine then…"

* * *

"Oh, and you'll love this! On Friday a colleague saw Mark and asked if he was my dad!" The dining room was filled with laughter. "I thought you were out at work?" Becca, Cooper's fiancée asked curiously while continuing to giggle behind her recently finished glass. "Well I am, basically, but no one has really met Mark so he just assumed" Blaine refilled the empty glasses with wine.

"I am Not old enough to be your father!" Mark chuckled. He took a big swig and refilled his glass of whiskey. "Tell that to the pregnant 15 year old at my school" Blaine quickly shot back with a grin on his face, then turning to Cooper "Smoke?"

"Smoke." The two brothers stood up and headed for the balcony, Blaine passing behind Mark's chair on his way out who gently grabbed his arm and gave it a little tug. "Again? How about you take it a little easier?" he asked with a slightly worried expression yet keeping the playfulness in his voice.

"How about you mind your own business, old man" Blaine answered with an annoyed tone yet also managing to not be too serious "Maybe I'm just too cool for school and you can't handle it!" He was probably beyond tipsy and heard Mark explain to Becca "Yeah, well too bad he happens to work in one" before finding his brother waiting on the balcony, one cigarette between his lips and one in his hand being offered to Blaine who was grabbing a lighter from his pocket. "Thanks man" he lit up and handed the lighter to Coopers.

"Heard anything from dad lately?" Blaine asked curiously while taking a deep drag, subsequently blowing some impressive smoke rings which he could only do after a couple of rounds of drink. Yes, he was beyond tipsy.

"Dad can go fuck himself. Can we talk about something else" It wasn't really a question even, though it was phrased as one. Cooper took an angry drag of his cigarette and stared down the street at nothing in particular.

"Yeah ok, I thought he was getting worse…"

"He is not getting worse and I'm not going to waste any time thinking about a person whose actual last words to you were 'go fuck yourself, or find some faggot to do it for you' so my opinion is that he can, in fact, go fuck himself. Happy?"

"Ok, sorry. Fine."

"I'm sorry, let's just talk about something else." A long pause filled the chilly evening spring air.

"We should probably throw back some shots" Blaine put out the butt of his cigarette against the railing of the balcony. Cooper flicked his down the street, repeating his brother's words "We should probably throw back some shots", putting an emphasis on the 'should'.

Inside Cooper and Blaine were pouring up tequila in the kitchen when they heard Mark raise his voice "Blaine, Don't you have work tomorrow? You know, at that school that you're too cool for?"

"Yeah well, you can go fuck yourself, dad. Cheers" Blaine said in a voice only his brother could hear. Cooper's almost hysterical laughter filled the whole apartment. Mark and Becca wondered what was so funny. "Cheers kid!" Blaine felt buzzing. "Smoke?"

"Smoke."

Later at night, when everyone had returned to theirs, Blaine let out a raspy whine into his pillow after suddenly having been flipped over, half-awake now from his from his dizzy sleep. "Shh, it's Ok" he heard somewhere behind his ear, feeling his underwear haphazardly being pulled down. "Ok... Be quick…" he whispered, too tired to wonder what and if it actually was 'Ok' while desperately trying to fall back asleep in his drunken state, but failing miserably when he was dragged up on his knees. He felt confused, let out a soft "No."

"Shh, it's Ok."

15 minutes later, Blaine could fall back asleep again.

* * *

"Why the hell are you looking so perky today?" Blaine looked up at a suit-dressed Mark brushing his teeth from the floor where he was seated, hugging the toilet.

"Because I'm more worldly and wiser than you" Mark replied with a chuckle as he rinsed off his toothbrush, tossing Blaine a bottle of aspirin before kneeling down and handing him a glass of water "If you want me to give you a ride you have to be ready in 25 minutes." "You have to drive me, or I'll die" Blaine whined as a hand came up to stroke his cheek.

"Shh, it's Ok"

And all of a sudden, Blaine felt something heavy tug at his heart.

Mark stood back up and headed to the kitchen, where Blaine could hear the sound of coffee being poured. There was a hint of a sting somewhere deep inside him. "Ok, Ok, I'll be showered in ten!" The hung-over mess on the floor reached to turn the shower on, as he proceeded to throw up into the toilet bowl. 20 minutes later he was dressed and sipping a cup of coffee in the kitchen, curiously watching his boyfriend read the newspaper all the while feeling something uneasy in the pit of his stomach.

* * *

Even though Blaine had promised his brother not to become a stranger once he had moved, he could slowly feel himself falling into that territory. He was reminded of this as he heard the phone ring, assuming it was Cooper calling for the hundredth time wanting to yell at him for not coming over as often anymore and was momentarily confused when he heard a woman's voice on the other line.

"Hi again, Blaine. This is Laura. I called maybe two months ago, asking about a Mark Kellan?"

"Oh hi, yeah I remember. Did he not call you back? I told him to call you back and he said he would, I'm sorry. "

"It's Ok! It's not your fault, I think I know why he hasn't called. But I do need to speak to him as soon as possible, do you know a time when he's likely to be at home.

"Yeah sure, uhm like, later tonight probably. Hey, can I ask you something?"

"Yes of course."

"Are you his ex-wife?"

There was a short pause. "Yes. Are you his boyfriend?"

Blaine just realized this woman probably had just any many questions as he did. "Yes."

"Can you tell him that the order has been lifted?"

"What order?"

"He knows. I should go, it was nice talking to you Blaine. Have a good night!

"Maybe I'll talk to you later then if you'll call again…" The line went flat. Blaine grabbed his keys from the kitchen counter, reaching for his blazer as he exited the front door. He felt like a smoke.

When he came back home he found his boyfriend leaning back on the couch as he was hanging up the phone, glass of something with ice in his hand. "Where have you been?"

"Just took a walk around the neighborhood, haven't gotten much of a chance to explore my new living area yet" Blaine said as he leaned down to kiss Mark on the cheek.

"Did you smoke?"

"Maybe. Hey was that Laura on the phone? She called again, said you never called black the first time"

"Does it matter?" Mark said, suddenly irritated as he kept swiveling the ice around in his glass.

"Uhm, maybe? I don't know, I don't know anything about her but apparently you were married. I didn't even know her name until an hour ago when I asked her since you wouldn't tell me."

"Blaine just, stop talking for a second. Can I just relax for a bit, I seriously just came home 10 minutes ago."

He knew he shouldn't, but he couldn't stop himself "Did your ex-wife have a restraining order against you?"

The silence, although only lasting for a couple of seconds, could have been cut with a knife.

"Blaine, I swear to God… "

"You swear what exactly?" Why couldn't he just stop talking?

Mark was standing up now "No, my ex-wife did not have a fucking restraining order against me, where the hell would you come up with something like that?"

Blaine automatically took a step back. "I don't know. I don't know why I said that." He probably shouldn't tell him that the woman this conversation was dancing around practically just told him.

"Good. Now I suggest that you go ahead and mind you own business out of my sight for a bit while I watch some football and relax, after I've had a hard fucking day at work mind you, before I knock that pretty little head of yours into next fucking week."

Blaine took another step back. "Ok.. Ok."

"Good." Mark sat back down on the couch before turning up the volume of the TV.

Turning around and going into the kitchen, Blaine grabbed a beer from the fridge trying to make as little sound as possible, before sneaking out on the balcony where he took a seat on a chair. He was shaking a bit, but felt like a beer and a cigarette would probably help. "What the hell just happened?" he asked himself under his breath.

* * *

Mark found Blaine hunched over the kitchen table next to probably four empty beer bottles, and took the liberty of gently shaking his shoulder "Hey, let's go to bed" he whispered into his ear.

A startled Blaine grabbed his hand blinking himself awake. "Yeah… Ok" He was lead to the bedroom with two strong hands on his shoulders, assuming their fight was over but not yet entirely sure. "I can also just sleep at Cooper's tonight, if you want some space." He was yawning and the idea over crossing half the city to go to bed, or rather a couch in this case, didn't seem very appealing, but Blaine wanted to make sure.

"No, no. I want you here" Blaine felt himself being sat down on the bed, the strong hands now tugging his t-shirt over his head. "I'm sorry Blaine" One of those strong hands cupped his cheek. "I didn't mean any of the things I said."

"I know. I'm sorry too."

"Don't be."

"Make it up to you?" Blaine had a goofy grin plastered on his face as he sunk down from the bed down on his knees in front of Mark, reaching up to unzip his boyfriend's pants.

"Sure…" Blaine heard the chuckled reply above him, as the pair moved until Mark's back was leaning against the bedroom door.

"You can show me how sorry you are later" he said, feeling a hand caressing his head as Mark let out a laugh from deep inside his stomach, and just like that almost every bad feeling Blaine had swiftly left the room. Almost.

* * *

"Hey Sam! Wait up!"

"Hey Blaine, good. I was looking for you earlier." The two teachers walked into the teachers' lounge, Blaine proceeding to pour two cups of coffee handing one over to Sam who promptly gave a quick "Thanks" before they sat down at a table.

"You were looking for me earlier?"

"Yeah, I wanted ask if I could see your schedule. If you could take one of my classes next week you would do me a massive favor"

"That can probably be fixed" Blaine reached into his bag and pulled out a folder, handing it over across the table.

Sam glanced through the folder while sipping on his coffee.

"Finding anything interesting on?"

"Yeah, Thursday looks great, I'll make a note and you can check it out later. Hey, you'll never guess who I ran into at a bar last week"

"No idea."

"Someone from high school"

"Really? Still no idea"

"Puck! Apparently he lives here now, and, check this, he's a doctor, believe it or not."

"Puck is a doctor? How?"

"Or an intern or paramedic whatever the hell you call it."

"Well, which one is it?"

"I'm pretty sure he said he's a paramedic."

"Really? Wow..." Blaine felt his heart flutter lightly at the thought of his old classmate. Puck had been sort of a bad seed during the majority of his years in school, but at some point something had shifted and everybody got along. He was always going on about the fact that people could change, and how frustrating it was that people always tended to judge him for the way he used to be. Blaine had been harboring a, what he hoped, was a secret crush on the boy pretty much all through high school which had resulted in a sloppy kiss and some awkward groping in a dark corner of a bedroom at some graduation party, followed by Puck shoving him face first into the wall telling him to 'stay the hell away from him' leaving Blaine with a fractured nose, a quick 'shit… I'm sorry' before storming out into the night. He told everyone he had gotten hit during a game of baseball. It had taken Blaine years to get over his feelings for the other boy, feelings that perhaps weren't that over after all judging by the sudden skip of a heartbeat which was ridiculous, by the way, because Blaine was 27 years old living with his partner in a loving and mature relationship for God's sake.

"What hospital does he work at?"

"Downtown"

"Ok... Where downtown? I live there, there's more than one hospital at the 'lower part of town'."

"How the hell should I know? That's all he said. Why don't you get in touch with him on Facebook and ask him yourself?"

"I doubt he wants to talk to me"

Sam gave Blaine a confused look "Why not? You guys were buddies" reminding Blaine of the fact that he hadn't actually told anyone about the last time he saw Puck, for the sake of not outing him. Although for all Blaine knew Puck wasn't even slightly bi-curious, just really, really wasted.

"Oh, no reason. Yeah, I'll check Facebook"

"I have to go now, please have a think about Thursday. See you later!"

"No problem, Sam. Later."

That night, once Blaine had drifted off to sleep, he dreamt of being kissed by a certain boy with a mohawk.

* * *

"Did you not get the car washed?"

"No, sorry. I must have forgotten. I have like, a million things on my plate right now, and I had agreed to take this extra class from a colleague for today".

"Well, so do I and I asked you, and you said you would do it. I can't show up to work with a car looking like that."

"I said I was sorry. I told you I'd do it to be nice but it turns out I actually didn't find the time. I can't do everything for everybody all the time."

"Have you been smoking?"

"Oh my God, what is this? An interrogation? I'm stressed out, sometimes when I'm stressed out I have a fucking cigarette."

"And when you're upset, and when you're drinking, and when you're happy, and when you're on vacation…"

"Shut up"

"Don't you talk to me like that. "

"Don't talk to 'me' like that! It's condescending. I'm 27 years old"

"Yet you're acting like a spoiled brat. Where are you going?"

"Out. To a place full of unwashed cars and cigarette smoke."

"We are having a discussion."

"Let go of my arm, Mark."

"I will, once you let go of your bad attitude."

"I'm serious."

"So am I…"

"… Thank you, geez."

"Where are you going?"

"I don't know! Out. Bye"

* * *

"Little brother! To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"To Mark's incomprehensive mood swings, that's what." Blaine passively accepted Cooper's embrace and was shuffled into the apartment.

"What? Why, what happened?"

"Nothing. I, I forgot, or actually didn't have time to, get his stupid car washed. Then he got on my case about smoking, just being annoying."

"Sure you weren't also being a bit annoying? He does drive you around all the time and apparently, or so I've heard, smoking is bad for you." Cooper said with a smirk while lighting up a cigarette and pushing freshly opened bottle of beer into Blaine's hand while the two got seated at the kitchen table."

"Probably. Hi Becca!" Blaine called out the last part to the Laundry room where he saw the redhead folding towels through the slightly ajar door.

"Hi there kiddo! Nice to see your face around these parts again!"

"Are you going back tonight? You know my couch is always there for you if you need it." Cooper suddenly had a hint of concern across his face, which was gone within half a second.

"No, yeah I'm going back of course, thanks though." Blaine took a big swig and pulled out a cigarette of his own which he proceeded to light. "It's just. I don't know"

"What?" Cooper took a drag and dipped the tip of his cigarette against the wall of the ashtray that was placed on the table.

"Nothing. Hey, we should catch a movie or a game or something soon, feels like we haven't properly hung out in ages."

"Yeah, of course kid" They sat in silence for a while. "Another beer?"

"Please."

* * *

"Shit!" Blaine tried to keep quiet after walking right into the chair standing in the unlit hallway. Suddenly, it wasn't unlit anymore.

"It's one a clock at night."

Blaine was startled for a second, but tried his best to regain his composure despite the level of alcohol flowing around in his body. "Sorry, why are you still up?"

Mark didn't say anything. Blaine threw his jacket on the floor and kicked off his shoes, leaning up to give his boyfriend a kiss on the cheek, who remained unresponsive. "You're still mad?"

"Could you not throw your shit on the floor?"

"Ok, you're still mad." Blaine slipped past the taller man and peeked into the living room, noting the empty bottle of what used to contain whiskey standing on the coffee table. "I'm going to bed. Or should I sleep on the couch? I can also just go out again, if that's what you want?" Suddenly there was a strong hand with a tight grip on his upper arm.

"You, my little friend, are not going anywhere."

Blaine turned to see if Mark was playing around, like one is want to do, but he didn't look like he was playing anything.

"Mark, just calm down, I know you had a bit to drink…"

"Oh, so now we are having little opinions as well are we?" The grip grew tighter, as it was joined by a mimicking motion on the other side of his body. Mark was shaking him now. "I can smell the fucking cigarettes and beer on your breath" Their faces were inches apart.

"Oh yeah? And I can smell the whiskey on yours."

Suddenly the hand gripping his left arm was gone. It was actually dangling fuzzily somewhere in front of his face, but only after its knuckles had connected with his left eye. Hard.

The arm with a hold of his right arm was gone too now, and Blaine found himself on the floor holding his head in his hands with his back leaning against the hallway wall, somewhere between a rock and a hard place.

A couple of things he wanted to say came to mind, but he thought it best not to say anything for a little while now.

"Blaine… shit. I'm sorry."

Blaine could feel his heart pounding in his eye as he witnessed how the perpetrating hand was now reaching down to him, offering. Mark's voice sounded broken.

Blaine managed to raise his head, getting a look at the towering figure above him through his fingers.

"You better be."

The next day, as Mark dropped Blaine off at school after handing him 20 dollars and a quick kiss, Blaine tried hard not to look at the purple bruise forming around his eye in the reflection of the dirty side-window of the car.


	2. Staring at a ceiling full of stars

"Whoa! Who gave you that shiner, huh?" Sam took a moment to take in the new colorful addition to Blaine's otherwise spotless face before sitting down at the table in the teachers' lounge in front of him.

"Boxing accident. Hey is that an extra onion bagel I see in your bag?"

"Boxing accident? I didn't know you were boxing again."

"Yeah, well I took it up again." Blaine lied through half a smile while being handed the bagel. "Thanks."

"So, me and a couple of guys are going out on Saturday, I know you haven't hung out in a while. You should come."

"Thanks but, I actually have plans. Can't go."

"Big night out with the old ball and chain?"

"Yeah, actually. He's taking me out for dinner at L'angelo, uptown, so I couldn't really say no."

"Whoa, that's fancy. What, is it your birthday or something? Or did he cheat?" Sam spoke trying to hide his chuckle through a big bite of his bagel.

Blaine forced a laugh, momentarily worsening the pounding in his eye. "No, no, it's nothing like that. We just wanted to do something special; I think he might actually be getting sick of my cooking."

"Well, it's your loss" Sam had finished eating and was getting up to leave "We're going to the same bar as last time, you know where I saw Puck. Who knows, maybe he'll be there again."

Blaine ignored the warm feeling spreading through his stomach at the mention of that name. "Well if you do see him, say hi from me. Maybe next time." Sam shot Blaine a curious smile. Did he know something?

"Maybe next time. Hey, what gym were you at yesterday?"

"What?" Blaine's eyebrows twisted in confusion, giving him a quick reminder that it would hurt to do so for a while.

"You know, where you box now. Maybe I should check it out next time, getting a little sick of the treadmill."

"Oh, it's like, this place close to where I live now, but I don't know when I'll go again. I don't know when I'll have time. " Blaine involuntarily held his breath.

"Ok well, just keep me posted. Later, killer." Sam walked off.

Blaine exhaled.

* * *

They were in the back of a cab home from dinner, both dressed sharp, as Mark held Blaine's hand over his knee. He gave it a little squeeze, flashing Blaine a reassuring smile. It felt nice. The comfortable silence was broken by a buzzing sound coming from Blaine's pocket. He took a look at the caller ID. "It's just Sam, he's out with some friends."

"Why don't you pick up?"

"Hello Sam, what's up?"

Blaine was greeted by anything but a comfortable silence on the other line. It actually sounded like a really good time.

"Hey Blaine! Enjoying dinner? Guess who I ran into again?"

Blaine quickly pulled back his hand from his boyfriend's knee, suddenly needing both hands to hold the phone. "Puck?"

Mark shot him a curious smile.

There was a new voice speaking through the phone now. "Hi Blaine, how are you? God, it's been forever!"

"Puck, hi." Blaine instantly wished his voice didn't sound so shy just now despite the number of drinks he'd enjoyed tonight.

"Sam tells me you're out having a fancy dinner, why are you even answering your phone dude." Puck was laughing.

"We're actually on our way home just now."

"Well, don't let me bother you any longer. Maybe I'll see you around some time!"

"Yes. Yes, sure."

"Hey, Sam tells me you box! Maybe we'll all go to your gym for a couple of rounds sometime. Where is it?"

"Oh, I box at this place; it's like around where I live."

"Hey Sam needs the phone back, good talking to you, take care."

"Yeah, take care." He hung up the phone.

"You box now?" an amused voice brought Blaine's thoughts away from the conversation he just had back to the car.

"Apparently." Blaine gave Mark a look.

A flash of realization struck the taller man's face, and was gone just as quickly as it appeared. Mark leaned closer to Blaine, a playful smile replacing that flash that they weren't going to talk about. "How do you feel about me rocking your world so hard tonight that you won't be walking for a day" he whispered.

A blush crept up Blaine's cheeks, and he swallowed hard before whispering back "That's Ok, it's Sunday tomorrow. I don't have to walk anywhere."

The car stopped as Mark paid, and the two quickly made their way into their apartment, kissing against the door the second it was slammed shut.

Later, as Blaine found himself with one hand planted flat on the mattress while the other was gracing the headboard of the bed to keep steady, he had to forcibly keep away the haunting voice he had heard earlier that evening above the clattering sounds of a bar, from replacing the one currently whispering hotly behind his head.

"Just like that… do you like that…"

Blaine felt a quick, playful slap on the right cheek of his backside, reminding him to answer.

"Fuck… yeah… I like that… harder…"

He felt strong hands grabbing a hold of his upper body, to have it pushed down into the sheets with his face landing in his pillow. Through the muffled sounds he thought his mind must be playing a mean trick on him.

"Is that hard enough for you… do you like that…"

"Yeah… I like that…"

"How bad do you want it…"

"Bad… I like that…"

Puck. I like that.

* * *

"You look fucked." Cooper's face was twisted in a humorous concern as he held open the door.

"I feel fucked." Blaine's plans of not walking anywhere today were swiftly shattered after Cooper had basically forced him to come over and hang out.

"Please don't tell me all about it. Hey, is that a…" Cooper reached out and knocked the sunglasses down Blaine's nose, who took a short step back. "…did you get punched or something?" The concern on Cooper's face was now humorless.

"Last week I took up boxing again, turns out I suck."

"Oh cool, where?" Cooper's features visibly relaxed as they made their way into his apartment.

"Just this place not far away from where I live now." Blaine made a mental note that he really needed to find some kind of alibi gym.

* * *

A glass crashed against the wall beside his head, and he quickly tried to step away from the shattered pieces on the floor but was abruptly stopped by a hand slamming into the wall on the other side. There was a stinging in his eyes and he realized that he never actually cried, and he sure wasn't about to start now. The slap that landed across his face, however, was making that decision a little bit harder.

Something about cigarettes and dry cleaning.

Mark staggered off into the direction of the kitchen, and Blaine was left wondering if he should pick up the mess or leave it be. 'Out of sight, out of mind' he thought after having stood there just looking at it for what felt like forever as he hunched down over the floor, putting the little pieces into the relatively whole bottom of the glass.

Mark reappeared over him, coming down to his level and started to pick up pieces as well. "Here." He put a newspaper carefully between them on the floor and dropped a couple of shards on it. They continued to clean up silence.

"I'm so, so sorry Blaine." Mark sounded like was close to tears.

"I know." Blaine didn't trust himself to look up at the voice speaking to him. "I know."

"Hey…" Blaine did look up at that, finding Mark flashing him one of the most genuine and apologetic smiles he had ever seen from the other man. "How about we get you a car."

"Don't be stupid."

"Maybe I am stupid, clearly." Mark let out a soft laugh.

"Sure. Whatever" Blaine walked off into the bedroom and collapsed on the bed. "Whatever"

* * *

Blaine was sitting in the teacher's lounge grading some papers while mindlessly sipping on a cup of coffee, his left cheek visibly redder than the other.

"Did you go boxing again? I thought I told you to tell me when."

Blaine quickly brought his hand up to his face; he hadn't realized it was noticeable.

"Have you been going without me this whole time for the last three weeks?" Sam gave a dramatic attempt at looking hurt.

"No, sorry. Just once, last night. Next time, I promise." Blaine felt a sudden need to change the subject, laughing inwardly at how ridiculously bad he apparently was at boxing. "Heard anything from Puck?" he asked curiously.

"No, but he did say that one time that he was really into boxing too." And they were back on that topic again. Blaine was slowly realizing that he probably was much better off not actually meeting Puck, judging from that hysterical butterfly flapping its wings somewhere in his stomach. Sam shot him one of those knowing looks which seemed to be making appearances every time they spoke of that guy they used to go to school with back in Ohio.

"How are things at home, Blaine?"

"Why are you asking that?" Blaine's palms felt sweaty all of a sudden.

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe because of that little crush you still haven't seemed to get over on Mr. Puckerman." Sam smiled. Blaine relaxed.

"What?"

"Come on, you didn't think you were keeping it very secret, did you. I could always see it from a mile away. It was kind of cute, in a sort of sad way." He was laughing now. Blaine made an effort to join in.

"Shut up! I am perfectly happy at home, thank you very much."

For a second, Blaine felt like Sam was studying the fading bruise around his eye. The blond teacher got up to leave. "Maybe you should become better at boxing. Later, killer." His voice had a hint of a serious undertone to it as he walked away.

"Yeah" Blaine laughed softly.

Yeah.

* * *

"What's all of this?"

"Just some catalogues I thought you should have a look at."

Blaine looked down at the images of cars scattered across the coffee table as he let his briefcase slide of his shoulder and onto the floor.

"Mark… It's fine, I don't need a car."

Mark smiled at him as Blaine slid down next to his boyfriend on the couch.

"Did it ever cross your mind that I'm getting sick of driving you around, huh?" Mark laughed.

"But you love dropping me off at work in the morning, it's like our thing." Blaine felt a hand on his shoulder, crawling up to stroke his hair.

"Maybe it's time you get your own 'thing' to get you places."

Blaine looked mindlessly down at the catalogues. "I like that one" he pointed at nothing in particular that looked sort of appealing.

"Yeah, that one is nice" Mark ruffled Blaine's hair a little, who reached down into his briefcase and pulled out a folder.

"Work?" The hand was back caressing his neck.

"Yeah." Suddenly Blaine felt those strong arms grab a hold of him, pulling him on top in a straddling position over his boyfriends lap.

"Can't it wait..?"

"No…"

Mark's hands were on the younger man's back, travelling south until they reached their destination. He reached his head up and whispered softly into Blaine's ear "Are you sure?"

Blaine swallowed as he felt two strong hands gently squeeze his backside through his jeans.

"No…" He smiled back, before he felt Mark standing up and dragging him off to the bedroom.

The next morning, after he had dropped Blaine off at work, Mark took a detour to a car dealership.

* * *

Becca handed Cooper a glass of white wine before crawling up next to him on the couch. Football was flashing on the TV screen.

"Do you think Mark hits Blaine?"

Cooper looked at her as if she had just told him that she saw a spaceship on her way home from work. "No, do you think you might need a trip to a mental institution? I think you might be seeing things."

She let out a soft laugh and took a small sip, cradling the glass carefully in her hands.

"No, I don't know. He just seemed so fidgety the last couple of times; he had that black eye, remember?" Becca took another sip. "And when he came over earlier for some books the whole side of his face was like, red or something."

"Yeah, he's boxing, you crazy person." Cooper tried not to seem affected by that last piece of information.

"Yeah, sure."

"What, you don't believe him?" Cooper laughed nervously.

"No, of course I do, it was just a scary thought that wouldn't leave my mind today."

"Mark is a great guy."

Becca paused for a second. "You don't think he's a little old for him? He's older than you and you and Blaine are like ten years apart."

"He's like three years older than me, it's nothing." Cooper almost finished his glass in one gulp, before being silent for a moment. "Look… Blaine has some Daddy issues, I get that, I thought it was weird too when they first started dating but then I got to know him and he turned out to be a great guy. Blaine is a grownup. Besides, you have tons of friends with older boyfriends"

"Yeah, I know. I don't know. Maybe it's because I do think that he has those issues, you know, maybe that's why it's a bit strange."

"Anyway, I think you're wrong."

"I hope so."

* * *

"Sam called, because apparently your phone is off" Blaine was greeted with a quick kiss as he walked into the apartment.

"Yeah, battery died" Blaine said, plugging his stone-age old cellphone into the charger as it turned on, silently announcing in the corner of the display that it in fact had 40% left. Cooper had kept calling and after the sixth missed call he decided to turn it off, not really feeling like talking to anyone at the moment. "I should get a new one, this one is falling apart" he explained while clicking back the front of the constantly loose plastic front shell.

"What kind would you want, then?"

"I don't know… like an IPhone or something. You have one, are they any good?" Blaine decided that the shell could stay loose if it so badly wanted to be.

"Yeah, they're fine. Anyway, he asked me to tell you that you should go out with the guys tonight, so this is me telling you"

"We'll see…"

"Hey, who's Puck? Sam said he'd probably tag along."

"Puck?" There was that stupid butterfly again. "He's just a really old classmate, from way back. High school."

"Is he gay?"

Blaine grimaced at the question. "What? No, he's not gay, why are you even asking that?" Somewhere deep inside Blaine wished he knew that he was lying.

"Just thought it would be nice for you to have some gay friends, that's all" Mark put his hands up in defeat. "But, I have a better idea of how to spend the rest of this Friday."

"And what does that entail, exactly?" Blaine found himself in a warm hug, face leaning in to rest on Mark's chest.

"How about… we take a trip to the car shop, where I may or may not have something stored for you, drive back home, and then you can show me how happy you are about your new gift"

"Are you serious?" Blain couldn't hide his smile as he looked up at his boyfriend, whose face was mimicking his expression.

"When am I ever not serious?"

"I'll text Sam and tell him that I'm not coming" Blaine walked over to his phone by the charger.

"Mark?"

"Yeah?"

"I love you."

"I love you too."

* * *

He estimated he had about an hour before Mark should be coming home. Blaine flipped through the list of numbers of received calls until he found what he was looking for. All these questions about Laura wouldn't stop bothering him until he had some answers, and experience had taught him that this was a bit of a touchy subject for Mark.

"Hi, this is Laura speaking."

"Hi, Laura. This is Blaine. We talked, maybe two months ago?"

"Blaine, hi. How are you?"

"Good, you?"

"Same old, same old."

There was a bit of an awkward silence.

"I just, can I ask you a question?"

"Depends on the question" She sounded like she was smiling.

"Did… Mark ever have a restraining order against him?"

"I'm not sure we should be talking about this"

"Wait… what is 'this' exactly?"

"You should probably ask him about it."

"See, I'm not so sure that I can" Blaine let out a nervous laughter. "I'm sort of taking that as a 'yes'?"

Laura was silent on the other end.

"We had a short, ugly marriage. I just decided to be on the safe side afterwards."

"Safe from what?" His heart was pounding.

"I have a feeling you might know the answer to that question."

"No, I don't" He definitely had a hunch though.

Another long pause. "He hit me. Probably because he was angry at the fact that he couldn't love me in a way that he wanted to. He was a very angry individual. Does that answer your question?"

Blaine felt like he was going to throw up. "Yes."

"He's had anger management though. I believe that people can change"

Blaine let out a soft chuckle. "So I've heard."

"I just wasn't the right person for him once he had because of what we had been through. You have a fresh start.

"Yeah."

"Blaine?"

"Yes?"

"Be safe, Ok. If he ever reverts back to his old self, for some reason or another, you should make sure you take care of yourself. Don't sit around waiting for it to get worse."

"Ok." Maybe it didn't have to get worse? It was fine now. Good, even

"Good."

"You can always call or text me if you want, Ok? If you need anything or have any questions. But I think it's best if this conversation stays between us."

Blaine heard a key turning in the lock of the front door.

"I have to go."

* * *

"Doing some good old-fashion Facebook stalking, are we?"

"God, you scared me"

"Who's this guy?"

"No one. That old classmate. I told you about it."

"Noah Puckerman…" Mark squinted his eyes reading the screen.

"We used to just call him Puck"

"Oh right, Sam's friend. But not yours, by the look of things."

"I don't know him, it's been years."

"You don't think he's a little too hot to be straight?"

"Yeah right…" Blaine hoped that furious blush he felt on his face wasn't showing.

Mark kissed Blaine on the top of his head, from where he was standing above him, hands placed on his shoulders.

"Mark… Can I ask you something of you?"

"Sure"

"I know we don't talk about this but… You can't hit me again."

"Blaine…" The hands let go of his shoulders, seemingly without lifting any of the weight pressing down heavily down on top of them. "I know and I am really sorry about everything, but I really don't feel like having this discussion right now" Mark stood and walked off into the room, clearly irritated.

"Oh, believe me, this is a conversation I'd rather not be having either."

"Then just, Ok. I know. I'm sorry. I gave you a car, and I'm sorry."

"Ok." Blaine wondered if he'd ever be really happy about that car. "Because, if you do it, I have to leave. And I don't want to leave. But I'm not stupid." He was trying to choose his words carefully

"I have been treating you good though, haven't I?" The irritation in Mark's voice had worn off.

"Yes."

"I never said you were stupid"

"I know."

"So don't worry that pretty little head of yours. I love you, I'd absolutely hate to see you leave." Mark returned behind Blaine who was still seated on the chair in front of the computer.

Blaine felt another kiss on top of his head, as a smiling Puck with sun kissed skin looked at him though the screen. He felt guilty.

"I won't leave"

"Good."

Things were good.

* * *

Blaine hurriedly managed to get the door locked.

"He lives, apparently!"

"Hi Cooper"

"Why thank you for finally picking up my call, starting to think you were avoiding me or something. Are you alright?"

"I can't really talk right now" Blaine silently cursed himself for picking up the phone, startled by the banging on the door. He sat on the cold bathroom floor hugging his knees with one arm, phone in the other.

"Blaine, are you fucking serious! Come out or I'm going to kick this fucking door down and drag that sorry little ass of yours out here myself"

Cooper thought he heard cursing somewhere on the other end. "Everything Ok over there, kid?"

"Yeah, just hold on one second." Blaine held a hand over the phone as he approached the door "I'm on the phone with my brother."

The banging stopped.

"Sorry, hey." Blaine wasn't sure exactly what his plan was. He thought he'd be alright as long as he was on the phone, but at the same time the last thing in the world he'd want was for Cooper to think anything was up.

"How about you pay your big brother a visit this weekend, whenever it suits you. Invite Mark as well."

"Yes, I will. I promise." Blaine took a deep breath. "I love you, Cooper." Great.

"Are you sure everything's fine?" Cooper let out a nervous laugh. "I can stay on the phone with you if…"

"Yep. Got to go, bye." He hung up before his brother got a chance to say goodbye. Blaine looked down at the mean bruise starting to take shape on his upper arm. The tug on his heart was back, and for the very first time since it first appeared in his chest, Blaine let that stinging in his eyes become tears.

A soft knock. "Blaine, please open the door."

A silence, followed by another knock. "I'm sorry."

Blaine wiped his eyes on the shoulder of his t-shirt. He felt exhausted. "Just a second."

A couple of minutes later, Blaine unlocked the bathroom door. He was greeted by a set of big open arms and a warm chest.

"I'm sorry" A whisper was pressed into his head. "I'm so sorry." A soft kiss.

Mark gently lifted Blaine's arm under the forgiving hallway light, taking a look at the purple and the blue and the yellow that was there. For some reason Blaine felt ashamed, and by the look of things, so did Mark, who was back to kissing the top of Blaine's head with feather light "I'm sorry"s and "I love you"s.

And that's all that mattered, because Blaine had a heart that was big and that was kind, and maybe a little too forgiving for his own good.

He probably was a bit stupid after all.

* * *

Cooper blinked dumbfounded at his cellphone.

"Becca, I'm afraid you might have been right"

"What?" She peeked her head out from the kitchen.

"I think I'll go over there."

"It's 10 a clock at night. Wait, are you serious?"

"No, I'm joking about domestic violence, of course I'm fucking serious. Fuck…" The words tasted foul in his mouth.

"Calm down. I'm sure he's fine, honey."

"I don't know."

* * *

Mark let Blaine's head fall back to the back of the couch as he gently pushed it off his shoulder, getting up to answer the door for the surprisingly quick Chinese delivery.

The a little too surprisingly quick Chinese delivery.

"Hey, is my brother here?" Cooper brushed past Mark in the door, barely giving him as much as a nod as he continued into the living room to find his brother rubbing the sleep out of his eyes on the couch, Mark following his footsteps.

"He's sleeping..."

"Oh look, he's awake now" Cooper didn't let his eyes off of Blaine, whose face was slowly starting to show some form of realization.

Cooper quickly processed Blaine's bruise "What happened to your arm?" He tried not to show very much emotion or to sound angry.

What followed were two simultaneous voices saying "Boxing", "He fell."

Cooper finally let his eyes go off his brother, staring at the floor. He sighed.

Blaine felt as though his entire world had just collapsed before quickly composing himself, trying to clarify "I fell at boxing."

Cooper couldn't bring himself to look at Mark. "Can I have a word with my brother, outside for a second" he practically asked the room.

Mark seemed surprisingly calm and collected. "Sure." He gently patted Blaine on his shoulder as the shorter man passed him, giving him a comforting smile.

Blaine put on shoes and followed his brother down the stairs, after softly saying "I'll be right back, I promise."

On the street Cooper was nervously lighting a cigarette, tossing one to Blaine as well. "We can get some of your stuff now in my car, just the things you need. Tomorrow we can go and buy a bed, like an extra bed or something."

"Cooper, it's Ok." Blaine lit his cigarette and stared at the ground. "I see what you're getting at, but everything is fine, nothing happened."

"What was up with your frantic phone call earlier? I'm just supposed to ignore that?" Cooper was practically spitting his words.

"No, but, it was just a misunderstanding" Blaine now felt like he had mustered up enough strength to look at his brother without crumbling in front of him. "I got hurt earlier but it was an accident, he didn't do anything. Then we just had a normal fight. Couples fight sometimes." Blaine wasn't exactly sure where this lie was going, but he guessed he was going with 'deny, deny, deny'.

"What about that black eye you were sporting a while ago?"

"Boxing, I swear."

The guy with the Chinese delivery arrived and disappeared up the stairs.

"My food is here, I should go back inside."

Cooper studied Blaine carefully. "Ok, if you say so." He went in for a hug.

"Please just forget about this, I don't want it to be awkward." Blaine tried his best reassuring smile on. "We still want to come this weekend, if you'll have us."

"Of course."

"Ok"

"Hey Blaine"

"Yeah?"

"I love you too."

* * *

Blaine wore a long sleeve shirt and an untarnished face as he rang the doorbell to his brother's apartment. He came alone. Happiness and a hint of nervousness sprung through him as the door opened.

"Blaine, good to see you!" Becca hugged him in the door.

"It's good to see you too." He was smiling as Cooper came into view, who proceeded to hug him a little tighter than normal. Blaine really hoped it wasn't going to be too awkward.

Later that night, an intoxicated Blaine attempted to crawl into bed as smooth as possible. It wasn't very smooth.

"There's my guy, how was dinner?"

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you."

It was basically a whisper "I was up, I don't like sleeping without you." Mark lifted his arm for Blaine to rest his head upon and smiled at him.

"Well, dinner was delicious, so was the whine" Blain let out a soft laugh before turning a little more serious "And they didn't mention anything, so that was good."

Mark stiffened for a second, never exactly enjoying that type of conversation. "Well, that's good" He took a deep breath. "Hey, how tired are you?" a smile now playing on his lips.

Blaine saw where this was going "Oh I'm pretty tired…" his argument was interrupted by a handful of kisses landing across his face "…ok! Ok…!"

"You just turn around and I'll take care of the rest…"

"Oh yeah, you're so good at that" Blaine chuckled as he followed orders, smiling inwardly as he took in the smell of freshly washed sheets. A hand found his face, fingers working their way into his mouth while another was stroking his lower back, reaching to pull down his underwear.

"You're beautiful" came a voice from behind his head, as wet fingers slipped out of his mouth making their way down his back until they reached what they were looking for.

"Oh…"

A whisper was close behind his ear "You like that, yeah..? you're so beautiful…"

For a second there Blaine thought he heard the voice of someone else.


	3. When it suddenly hit me

"And don't forget homework for tomorrow, chapters 11 and 12! Class dismissed."

A collective moan echoed inside the classroom as Blaine looked out the window. When had it become fall?

Sam leaned against the doorway, making room to the side for students to slip out. "Popular as always, Mr. Anderson"

"Yeah, and your students just love you, don't they." Blaine teased back, looking through the drawers for some paperclips.

"You should come out with us on Friday, seriously this time. I'm not taking no for an answer, it's been like five billion years since we even had a conversation"

"Ok, ok! As a matter of fact I don't have any plans for Friday so yes, I'll be there."

"Awesome man, first a couple of drinks at my place at around nine, then we'll head out and get a real buzz going."

"Sam… do you mind?" Blaine held up his hand gesturing to about half of his class still present in the room, mostly minding their own business. "I'm trying to preserve at least an ounce of professionalism around here."

"Dude, you wouldn't survive a day in my classroom with that sorry ass attitude." He turned to leave Blaine at his desk.

"Is Puck coming?" Blaine pretended to be absurdly interested in the label of a blue little box of paperclips lying in the drawer of his desk.

A smiling Sam turned back around. "I think so. Yeah, I think so." He continued out.

Blaine let out a satisfied sigh prompting Sam to turn back once again, this time with a raised eyebrow.

Blaine held up the little blue box "Paperclips! Found them." and Sam continued on, letting him get away with it.

* * *

Blaine looked at his reflection in the mirror, having just had something similar to what a World War III might go down like with his hair, and decided to just leave it like that.

"You look good, hot date?" He heard his boyfriend's voice from the doorway, feeling a pair of eyes look him up and down and recognizing the clinking sound of ice in a glass.

"Yeah, Sam and I decided we should have an affair last week but I wasn't sure how to initiate it. It's probably going down tonight though so don't wait up."

In two steps Mark was standing behind him in the mirror, looking down. "Do I have to remind you of where you belong?" he said before starting to furiously kiss his boyfriends neck.

Blaine laughed "It tickles..! please stop!" as he tried to get a glance at his watch. This didn't go unnoticed.

"How much time do you have?" Mark asked before practically picking Blaine up by the hips and carrying him off to the washing machine, setting him down on top of it facing him. He continued to kiss his neck.

Blaine looked down sheepishly "20 minutes…"

"Perfect" Mark groaned against his neck, before swiftly dragging Blaine down, turning him around and pushing his upper body forward.

"No, no, no, I don't have time for this" Blaine stood back up and made a quick move out the door, leaving a trail of laughter in his wake. "I want to buy some smokes first, I'll just leave now before you find a way to make me late."

"Smokes?"

"Oh, don't look at me like that." Blaine's shoes were on as he grabbed his jacket, giving Mark a quick kiss. "Seriously, don't wait up. Ok?"

"Ok."

* * *

"I just got a text from Puck, he probably won't make it. Something about having to take an extra shift tomorrow."

"Oh. Ok" Blaine tried not to let the disappointment in his voice show while accepting another beer from Sam, who sat down across from him in the living room. They would all probably head out in a second.

"So, how the hell are you anyway, Blaine?"

"Good. Great. You?"

"Awesome. I've kind of been seeing this chick, so I'm assigning it as your responsibility to make sure I don't do anything stupid tonight." Sam gave him a wink.

"Sure, just don't blame me if I lose sight of you for a second, you maniac." Blaine chuckled, trying to convince himself that it probably was for the best that Puck couldn't make it. Unless he wanted to reduce himself to a nervous puddle on the floor.

"Blaine… Can I tell you something, and you promise not to text-message break-up with your boyfriend the second I finish?"

"What?" Blaine discretely studied his forearms making sure there was nothing there. There shouldn't be anything there. Things were good. Great.

"Well… Apparently, Puck actually told me a couple of weeks ago once when we were out."

Blaine was curious now. "What?"

"Puck is gay."

"No way." Blaine wondered if this was what a heart attack felt like. "But he always had girlfriends? He even knocked up Quinn." Blaine pinched himself to make sure he wasn't dreaming, recognizing the lack of logic in his current situation from many of his nightly endeavors.

"Overcompensation, maybe? Or maybe he's bi. But he said he was out and stuff, I think he said he was gay. He also told me that you guys kissed once, right after he'd graduated. He said he'd been pretty mean about it and that he was sorry about that."

"Oh, he shouldn't be, it was nothing." Blaine could almost feel himself falling in love, trying his best in his mind to stomp that butterfly with his foot. "Does he have a boyfriend?"

"No, but you do. Remember?" Sam was grinning.

"Oh, right!" Blaine jokingly took out his phone and pretended to text "Dear Mark, you're a great guy but I have found someone new…"

Sam mock punched his arm "Hey! You promised."

"Does he know I have a boyfriend?" Blaine said jokingly.

"Yes, he knows you have a boyfriend."

"Damn!" Blaine chuckled, wondering if he was any good at faking sarcasm.

Sam stood up. "Finish your beer and we'll leave" He looked back. "Hey, Blaine?"

"Yeah?"

"Was he your first kiss?"

"Uhm, yeah."

Sam walked off towards the coat hangers. "Cute."

Other people in the apartment were getting their jackets on, and Blaine had to remind himself that it was impossible to have a crush on someone for ten years, while finishing his beer. Sam walked back throwing his jacket to him, ready to leave.

"Let's go, Killer."

"Yeah, let's go."

Blaine spent the rest of night hoping Puck would show up at the bar.

He didn't.

* * *

"Wake up…"

Blaine blinked at the feeling of a hand on his crotch and a voice in his ear. A pair of hands gripped his shoulders pulling him on top, then downwards.

"I feel horrible." Blaine shook himself out of the grasp and jumped off the bed, making his way to the bathroom. Mark heard the shower go on.

When Blaine got out of the bathroom, wearing fresh jeans and a t-shirt, a dressed Mark was waiting outside the door.

"You locked the bathroom?"

"I just wanted to take a shower alone…" Blaine was interrupted by a shove face first against the wall, hands grasping his arms behind his back. He managed to turn his head to the side "Please not now, I really don't feel so hot."

"I think you're hot enough…" Mark was nudging his mouth at the back of his neck.

Blaine attempted to break free, his heart beating a little faster at the realization that he couldn't.

"Mark?"

"Shh."

A hand left the grip of his arms turning to his front to unbutton his jeans, and he managed to slide out.

Mark put up his hands up in defeat, sounding irritated. "We haven't had sex in weeks, last night you didn't want to…."

"Last night I didn't have time! Now I'm hung-over, just… Later, I promise." But right now Blaine wasn't so sure he'd want to later.

Then he noticed a flash of anger in Mark's eyes.

"Ok..! ok…" Blaine wasn't interested in seeing exactly where this could go, so he decided to slide down on his knees, the person above him letting out an audible sigh. He had barely gotten a chance to unbutton Mark's pants when the two hands were back on him dragging him up to his feet, and once again he found himself with his nose pressed against the wall.

"I want to fuck you."

"Fine, just… can we please go to the bed?"

"No, I want to fuck you against the wall." The air was hot on the back of Blaine's neck, yet it somehow managed to make his skin prickle.

Blaine sighed. "Fine…"

"Good. Stay there." Mark disappeared, and Blaine graced his forearms against the wall leaning his head against them, deciding he might as well try to enjoy it. Mark announced his return with the popping of a bottle cap.

Afterwards, Mark lay down and took a nap on the couch as Blaine once again found himself locked in the bathroom, feeling the need for another shower.

He spent the rest of the Saturday watching old movies on his brother's couch, returning home in the evening to a curious looking little box on the kitchen counter.

"What's this?"

"An IPhone. For you. It's the kind you wanted, right?"

"Yeah sure but… you shouldn't have." Blaine couldn't help but smile at Mark, who almost looked shy leaning against the doorway.

"Well I already did so now you have it."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome."

* * *

"Hi, this is Blaine."

"Blaine, hi, it's Cooper."

"Well hello there."

"Look, Blaine. There's something I need to tell you."

Mark had just finished some work on the computer as he walked into the living room, finding an oddly stunned looking Blaine on the couch, cellphone in his hand.

"Something wrong?"

"My dad died." Blaine looked up at Mark, who couldn't really make out if those were tears in his boyfriend's eyes.

"God… I'm so sorry Blaine." Mark sat down next to him on the couch, putting a hand on his knee. "You never talked about him… what happened?" He tried to find Blaine's eyes with his own.

"He had a heart thing. He kind of hated me."

"I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault."

"I know…"

"Cooper said we shouldn't go to the funeral."

"Well, what do you want?"

"I just want to lie down for a minute."

"Sure, sure." Mark let Blaine slid his head down, resting it gently on top of his lap. He stroked Blaine's head with his hand.

"Shh, it's Ok…"

Damn Blaine and that tugging heart of his.

* * *

Another night at the same old bar was coming to an end and even though it wasn't even that late, Blaine felt like it was time to go home.

"You guys will get a chance to catch up sooner or later, don't worry." Sam nudged Blaine's cheek with his hand, trying to sound reassuring.

"Yeah, I'm sure" Blaine smiled back. "See you on Monday."

"See you!"

Blaine hugged his elbows as he walked through the brisk fall night.

"Fuck..!" He jumped around in the dark as quietly as he could on his left foot, having accidentally just kicked his right one into that stupid chair in the hallway.

The light came on.

"You're home early."

"Yeah.., I guess"

"You left your phone here."

"I did?" Blaine was kneeling on the floor, untying his shoes. He saw Mark's legs moving closer.

"Yeah, hey I have a question for you."

"Yes?" Blaine questioningly looked up as he dragged a shoe off of his foot.

"Why are you and my ex-wife texting each other?"

Suddenly there was a lump in Blaine's throat. He stood up, kicking of his other shoe. "You went through my phone?" Maybe he could turn this one around.

"Get over yourself, Blaine. It buzzed, I thought it was mine so I checked it, it was a message from her." He seemed to be taking a calming breath. "You're telling her things, Blaine."

Blaine got defensive "No! If you actually did go through my phone you'd see that I haven't told her a thing. I told her that my dad died, who cares? Nothing. Else."

Mark threw the phone at Blaine, who barely managed to catch it.

"Are you sure you finished your anger management?"

A slap landed across his face.

"Don't start with me, Blaine."

"I think I'll go to Cooper's place tonight…." Blaine barely had time to finish that thought, let alone the sentence, before he found himself with his back against the wall, a forearm across his throat. He tried to remain calm. "Get off of me…"

"You're not going anywhere, you ungrateful little idiot, before I've knocked some god damned sense into you." It was barely a whisper. "I get you a car, I get you a brand new fucking phone, and you just decide to go behind my back like this?"

Blaine's heart felt like it was going to beat right out of his chest. "I'm sorry, I'll stop. I promise, I won't text her again."

"You think that makes it alright?" The arm quickly left his throat. Another slap.

"No but…" Blaine felt the air knocked out of him as strong hands roughly grabbed his shoulders, banging his back against the wall, only to double over when a knee connected with his stomach. Somewhere deep in there, Blaine could almost recognize something desperately flapping its sad wings.

Mark let Blaine sink down on his knees in front of him, getting a rough hold on the front collar of his t-shirt and giving him a shove so that his head fell back.

Before Blaine got a chance to cover his face with his arms a fist crashed down on his nose, and then he was alone, head tilted upwards leaning back against the wall.

An hour later Mark heard the door open and close, before walking into the hallway. There were a couple of drops of blood on the floor, and for some reason that light in the hallway didn't seem so forgiving any longer.

* * *

It was hard to walk straight, leaning his head back while pressing a drenched jacket clad forearm under his nose, but he was fairly sure there was a hospital not much longer than a ten minute walk away from home. He was also fairly sure that his nose was broken.

Walking into the ER, he tried his best to communicate to the woman at the reception that it wasn't as bad as it looked, and she assured him that someone could take a look at it shortly while a nurse handed him a cold compress and some gauze pads for the blood, telling him to rather try and lean his head forward a bit.

He had been sitting for about an hour on one of the uncomfortable grey plastic chairs in the waiting area and had almost drifted off to sleep when something caught his attention.

"Blaine?"

He looked up.

"Puck?"

"Are you here alone?"

Blaine offered a confused nod before Puck gently took a hold of his elbow and led him down the corridor, gesturing towards the receptionist that he'd take care of this one.

"Aren't you supposed to be riding around in an ambulance?" Blaine decided, through the compress and pads in his face, that some humor might help alleviate this most likely inevitably awkward situation.

"I work a couple of shifts at the hospital as well, I like to mix it up" Puck flashed Blaine a smile, and the picture of him Blaine occasionally stared at on his computer screen didn't do it justice. He looked almost painfully good, and that was coming from a guy who just had his face punched in.

Puck led them into a section with a hospital bed and one of those instrument carts, and closed it off to the rest of the world with a thin, white curtain before gesturing for Blaine to take a seat on the bed.

"Want to tell me what happened to your face?"

"A late night boxing session?" Blaine wondered if he could get away with that one.

"Who the hell is your sparring partner? The Terminator?"

Blaine let out a soft laugh, followed by a wince.

Puck carefully grabbed Blaine's hands and took them off his face. "I think we should be able to fix this up…" His thumbs softly poked around on his nose, and Blaine couldn't help but hold his breath for a few seconds.

Puck turned around and walked up to a work bench, fiddling around with scissors and some tape after having handed Blaine a new cooling compress. "Weren't you out with Sam tonight? I'm pretty sure he said you were out with him when I called to say I wouldn't make it." Puck's back was turned towards him, giving Blaine about two seconds to come up with something to say.

"Actually, I was robbed on my way home from the bar." Blaine felt pretty content with his words, until the excruciating buzzing of his cellphone filled the air around them.

Puck gave Blaine an inquiring look over his shoulder. "And they let you keep your cellphone?"

Blaine didn't really have an answer for that as he looked down on the perpetrating object in his hand, as Puck was approached him again.

"Why are you lying, Blaine?"

He was sort of having a dry spell on answers tonight.

"You know you can answer that if you want." Puck gestured towards the phone.

"But we're in a hospital?"

"Who cares?" Puck gave him a soft smile while peeking down on the small screen. "'Mark', isn't your boyfriend a 'Mark'?" He picked something out of his breast pocket. "Did your bleeding stop?"

Blaine nodded softly.

"Then lean your head back for me." Puck proceeded to shine a light up Blaine's nose, a hand steady on his shoulder and Blaine could have sworn he just felt a thumb gently caress his neck there for a second. "You won't need an x-ray and you're going to be fine, but I will have to set it for you. This will probably hurt a bit…."

Puck used his hands to straighten Blaine's nose, who in turn tried his best to not let that sob out of his mouth. "All set." Puck smiled down at him and there was that thumb just barely tickling his neck again.

"You want to grab a coffee after this?"

Blaine shuddered, pretty sure that he could get away with that under the circumstances, then proceeded to smile as wide as he could. "I don't know… Isn't it a bit unprofessional of you to see patients on your free time?"

Puck's smile seemed to fade a little bit. "Depends, are you planning to keep being my patient?"

Again Blaine didn't know exactly what to say.

"You chose a lucky night to get 'robbed' on, because I'm letting you have this one on the house."

"Thank you." His phone resting next to him started buzzing again.

"Don't keep your boyfriend waiting, he's probably worried." Puck said from over the bench where he continued his work with the scissors. Was that sarcasm?

Puck came back and methodically started to tape up Blaine's broken nose.

"I'm not sure I want him to be my boyfriend anymore." Blaine was more surprised at himself for having voiced those words than Puck seemed to be upon hearing them, who just appeared to take a sharp intake of breath from his own, un-fractured nose.

"And why is that?" Another breath. More tape.

"Because earlier tonight he broke my nose."

Puck applied one last piece of tape before taking a step back and turning back towards the work bench, upon which he just seemed to rest his body on his hands.

"I can pay for this, I do have my wallet."

Puck just turned around. The phone went off again.

"I should probably take that…" Blaine picked up the phone.

"Hello?"

The paramedic tried not to look as if he was listening.

"No, I'm at the hospital. Alone. Yeah, that one. It's broken, but it's fine, it's nothing. I don't know. This is probably going to take a while; I'll just see you at home. Fine. In an hour, maybe? I'll see you outside."

Blaine hung up.

"He's picking you up?"

Blaine nodded. "In an hour. Still want that coffee?"

Puck patted him on the back. "Definitely." His face looked sort of sad.

In the cafeteria, which was swimming in that typical hospital lighting, Blaine was sitting at a small table as Puck approached, two paper cups of coffee in his hands.

"I told you I didn't actually lose my wallet, I can pay for this. And for the procedure."

"It's fine. It's the least I can do. I did break your nose"

"What are you talking about?"

"Well I have, before. And I'm sorry"

"Oh… don't be stupid, it's fine."

"Are you always this forgiving?"

"I'm starting to think it might just be severe stupidity."

Puck gave him a soft smile before turning somber. "You know, I wasn't even drunk that night."

"I don't believe you."

"It's true. I just wanted to make sure you were completely wasted so that maybe you wouldn't remember what we'd done the next day, and then it wouldn't really have happened."

Blaine had to laugh. "You weren't going to date-rape me... right?"

Puck joined in before looking down at his hands. "I had it all planned out. I was going to take you to a graduation party where none of our friends were going to be at, get you drunk on beers and screwdrivers while keeping a clear head, and then I was going to kiss you. Because I had always wondered what it would be like. And you weren't going to remember a thing."

"I remembered."

"I thought so."

"Maybe I wouldn't have remembered if it hadn't been my first."

"I'm sorry about that." Puck sighed before continuing. "Well, after my reaction I realized I blew it and that I'd never get another shot."

"Your reaction might also have had a little something to do with the remembering part."

"I really am sorry."

"I forgive you."

"Do you forgive him?" Puck nodded towards the phone laying on the table between them.

Blaine had to pause for a second. "Probably. Not tonight. Maybe tomorrow."

Blaine finished his coffee and took a deep breath.

"Somebody once used to tell me that people could change."

Puck let out a soft chuckle. "He must have been a real genius."

"He is. He's not too hard on the eyes either." Blaine felt a little embarrassed about the next part. "I had a huge crush on you back then. I actually think I might have loved you, and it didn't even stop after that."

The man across from him looked sorry. "Did I fuck you up that bad? Seems like you're still running around getting your face knocked in because of love."

"No, of course not." He tried to laugh reassuringly. "I like to blame my dad for all my love-related issues." Blaine threw a glance at his watch. "Shit, I should go outside."

"Remember what you told me in there."

"Which part?"

"That you weren't so sure anymore if you wanted him to be your boyfriend."

Both men stood up, tossing their empty cups into a nearby trashcan, before Blaine suddenly turned around and faster than Puck could blink he felt Blaine's lips on his own, just for one tiny second, who one heartbeat later was back to walking slightly in front of Puck down the corridor.

"You didn't completely blow it, Puck. Turns out situations can change as well."

Puck couldn't hide the blush creeping up his neck. "Remember that one for yourself. Situations can change, Blaine."

"I will change it."

Blaine turned around once more as they had reached the doors to the ER. "Will you have another coffee with me once I have?"

Puck felt nervous at the thought of letting him leave. He reached into his pocket "Here's some Tylenol, I meant to give you these."

Blaine grabbed them and over his shoulder Puck could see a tall figure coming towards them, reaching an arm around Blaine as he approached. "Sorry if I'm late." 'This must be Mark' he thought. Mark kissed Blaine on top of his head.

The shortest man out of the unlikely trio looked up at the paramedic, "Thanks."

Puck looked carefully at Blaine. "And, to answer your question, Yes, I will. Have a good night, or early morning, and be more careful with who you box with next time." And with that, Puck walked back into the hospital, overhearing Mark go "Didn't he look a bit familiar?" as he passed the receptionist area.

Blaine looked up at the taller man, small smile playing on his lips.

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

* * *

"Cooper?"

"Blaine? Why are you calling at… four in the morning?"

"Can you come over? Not now but, soon, maybe?"

"What's going on?"

"I think I need to leave."

"I'm there in 40 minutes."

Blaine walked into the living room, looking at Mark's sleeping form on the couch, tie loosely hanging around his neck and dark circles under his eyes, and he wondered if he was making the right decision.

In 35 minutes, Cooper was pulling up his car next to the apartment building Blaine up until today had called his home. Blaine was waiting outside, leaning his back against the brick wall by the door.

"Hi."

"Blaine…"

"I'm sorry."

'"I'm' sorry." Cooper ran a shaky hand through his hair, wincing at the sight of Blaine's taped up nose. He gave his little brother a hug. "I can't believe I let this happen."

Blaine just shook his head.

"Where is he?"

"Upstairs, sleeping. He doesn't know I'm about to do this… I just didn't want to do it alone."

"No. No, of course not." Cooper hugged Blaine again, tight. "Of course not…"

"So… Let's do this."

"Yeah."

Inside the living room, Mark was sitting on the couch. Awake. He nodded to himself at the sight of Cooper walking through the door, Blaine walking up and sitting himself down next to him.

Mark looked down at his hands. "I would say that I'm sorry, but I don't think you'd believe me." He studied Cooper carefully for a second, who stood arms crossed leaning against the doorframe. "I can't believe I fucked this one up so badly." He leaned forward, putting his face in his hands.

Blaine looked at the floor. "I have to leave now."

"I know."

"I'm going to take a couple of things with me now, and I'll come back later in a couple of days for the rest." His voice was soft, trying his best not to let it crack.

Blaine stood up and walked into the bedroom followed by Cooper where he dug out a suitcase from the closet and started packing it, slowly reclaiming little bits and pieces of himself. A couple of minutes later the two brothers reemerged into the living room, where Mark didn't seem to have moved an inch.

Blaine walked up to him, carefully putting a hand on his shoulder. Mark looked up. "I'll go back to anger management." He had tears in his eyes.

Blaine sighed. "You should" almost pleading towards Cooper for a moment. "But I have to go now."

Mark let out a sob. "Will you come back?"

Now Blaine could also feel his eyes filling up with something. "I don't think so." Mark nodded and tried to smile.

"I thought not." He looked over to Cooper. "I'm sorry."

Cooper shook his head and stared at the floor. "Come on Blaine, let's go." He grabbed Blaine's suitcase and went out the living room door.

Blaine dug into his pocket, presenting a set of car keys. "Here."

"Keep it."

"I don't want to. I can't…"

Mark sighed. Or perhaps it was a sob. "Ok…" He took the keys.

"I'll get you the cellphone and the house keys back when I come for the rest. I just need to get the SIM card out."

"Keep the phone, at least."

Blaine took a deep breath. "Ok." He looked towards the door. "I should go now."

"Can I kiss you?"

Silence.

"Can I hug you?"

More tears welled up in Blaine's eyes. "Yeah." Mark stood and put his arms around him, and Blaine couldn't fight the urge not to reciprocate. There was a soft whisper in his ear.

"Please forgive me."

"I will..."

A shaky breath. "Please forget me."

Blaine twisted his head in Mark's arms. "I won't."

There was a tearful sigh above him. "Remember when we first met?"

Blaine whispered back. "Yeah…"

"Then remember me like that." Wet drops were falling down on Blaine's head who nodded in return, rubbing tears into the taller man's shirt. "I will. I promise."

"Thank you. I love you."

"I love you too." Blaine took a hold of Mark's arms, which were heavy rather than strong like they usually were, and took a step back. "Good bye."

"Good bye Blaine."

Blaine turned to leave.

Good bye.

* * *

The car ride to Cooper's apartment was silent, as they drove in the pink early morning sun through empty streets. They were welcomed by three hot take-away cups of coffee and an assortment of pastries on the kitchen table, as well as a tight hug from Becca when they arrived.

Blaine took a minute to sit down on the couch in the living room looking at the sheets Becca had folded neatly on the arm rest on top of a pillow to use later, and realized that he felt more at home on this make-shift bed arrangement than he had in months in his own home.


	4. I just have to let you know how I feel

"Are you even going to tell me what happened to your nose?"

It was a Thursday afternoon in the teachers' lounge.

"You know, I never went boxing, right?"

"I don't know. Maybe?"

"I left my boyfriend."

Blaine shot Sam a look before staring down at his hands busy cradling a cup of coffee.

"Fuck… Blaine."

"It's Ok. Now. I'm fine."

"Do you need a place to stay?"

"I have my brother's couch now, and I have a couple of viewings this weekend. Thanks though." Blaine tried to offer a reassuring smile.

"Puck was asking about you. He said you should call him."

"Can you text me his number?"

"Yeah sure. I have to go but Blaine, if you need anything, tell me alright?"

"I will, thanks. And Sam, could you please not tell anyone about this?"

"No, of course. See you later."

"Later."

2 minutes later, Blaine had Puck's number safely saved on his phone.

* * *

"Noah."

"Puck, hi. It's Blaine."

"Blaine, hi. How the hell are you?"

"Good, better". It felt nice to say those words without lying for the first time in a long time. "I'm staying at my brother's now for a while, got a couple of apartments to look at this weekend so that's good." Blaine hoped Puck would understand what that basically entailed.

"Good, good for you Blaine. I mean it."

"Look, this might be a bit forward but would you mind going with me on Saturday? Everyone else is busy and last time I did this on my own I ended up in a ridiculously expensive shoebox." He tried to laugh to see if that would help shake off some of the unreasonable nervousness he was feeling. "And you know, we could catch up a bit. If you want to, that is."

"Yeah, I think I'm free. Sure."

"And besides, you know, I owe you a coffee."

Puck laughed back. "Yeah you do. Hey, I need to go but call me later and we'll set it up."

"I will, thanks. Bye"

"Bye Blaine."

"What is 'maybe a bit forward?' and why are you blushing like a schoolgirl?"

"Shit, Cooper… Ever heard of a little thing called privacy?"

Cooper sat down on the couch next to Blaine. "You don't think it's a little too early to be dating?"

Blaine threw a cushion at his brother. "It's not a date!... And if anything, this one is rather about ten years late."

The human cushion-target laughed. "So Sam finally gave into your undeniable charm huh? I kept telling you, straight men don't have hair like that."

"Would you please just stop talking…"

"Then who is it?" Cooper was genuinely curious.

"Remember a guy called Puck that I went to high school with?"

"That badass with a mohawk and a bad attitude you spent the better part of your formative years lusting after? Sure I remember him, he's gay now?"

"And a paramedic. And he doesn't have a mohawk anymore." Blaine was hoping his cheeks weren't as red as they felt.

"Well well, good job little brother." Cooper patted him on the shoulder as he stood. "But you know, do still take it easy. You don't need to rush anything, especially not on the first date." He wiggled his eyebrows, and another cushion landed on his face.

"It's Not a date!"

"Whatever, kid."

* * *

"Hey, I thought I was buying you coffee this time!"

"Well, I couldn't help myself." Puck handed Blaine a take-away cup and went in for a one armed hug. "Is this the place?"

"Yeah. I already looked at a couple of hellholes yesterday so I'm hoping there's more luck today. Hey, thanks for the coffee."

"Don't worry about it." Puck smiled at Blaine. "Let's go".

Blaine felt an arm drape over his shoulder. "Yeah, let's go."

The apartment was bigger, cheaper and much nicer than the one he had previously rented, and by the end of the appointment Blaine had practically sealed the deal and was told he could move in within a week once he had signed the contract. Puck held onto his elbow as they walked down the stairs. "Great job Blaine, I'm kind of jealous." he sort of whispered as they made their way back onto the street.

"Thanks man."

"How's your nose, anyway?"

"Much better, thank you."

"Good. He's not going to bother you again, is he?"

"No. I really don't think so."

"You made a good decision there Blaine." Puck kind of smiled and looked at the ground. "And I'm obviously not only saying that because of selfish reasons." He continued to look down. "I work in an ER, I see this stuff all the time. It never ends pretty."

Blaine smiled, for some reason also feeling like he had to look at the ground. "Thanks. Yeah. It was the right one."

Puck looked up, his gaze kind of following any car happening to pass down the street. "Look, I have to go now, got work tonight. But whenever you feel like hanging out or grabbing a bite to eat you know, just call me."

"I will."

They hugged goodbye, and as Blaine walked away he felt so distracted by the thoughts on the afternoon he had just had that he completely forgot the throbbing in his nose.

When Cooper and Blaine arrived back at the apartment to pick up the rest of Blaine's things a week later to take them to his new place, Mark wasn't at home. Blaine left the house keys on the kitchen counter before turning off the light in the hallway.

He shut the front door from the outside and suddenly his heart felt a little bit lighter, the two strong invisible hands with an iron grip on his shoulders finally letting go.

* * *

The following four weeks Blaine and Puck would occasionally meet up in conjunction with Blaine running all types of errands getting his new life together, a lot of which consisted of getting furniture for his new place.

"This one is nice." Puck sat down on one of the more ridiculously named beds at IKEA. "Can't believe you've been sleeping on a mattress on the floor all this time."

Blaine took a seat next to him. "Yeah… First a couch and now this. My back is starting to feel it." He stood taking another good look at the bedframe. "I like this one."

"I have pretty great taste so…" Puck smiled up at him.

"Sure, sure." Blaine held out a hand dragging him back on his feet. "Do you think you can give me a ride home before your shift?"

"Sure, but my shift doesn't start for another 3 hours."

"Could also just drive back to your place if you want. Hang out a bit."

"Is somebody curious to see how a person with great taste lives?"

Blaine laughed as they made their way out the store. "Something like that."

30 minutes later Puck was turning the key in the lock to open his front door.

"Do you want a beer or something? I can't because I have work, but you go ahead."

"Thanks, but no, I also have some work to do later. Nice place." Blaine took the liberty of walking around Puck's apartment.

"Why thank you."

They proceeded to the bedroom, lit only by the soft afternoon light seeping in through the pulled down curtain, where Blaine immediately turned around by the bed only to fall back on top of it. "Now this is better."

Puck mimicked his motions and ended up next to Blaine on the bed, the two of them just lying there staring at the ceiling.

After a couple of minutes had passed, Puck turned his face towards the other man on top of his bed sheets. "Hey."

This time it was Blaine's turn to mimic Puck's movement. "Hey…" The room felt dark yet warm somehow, and there was stream of sunshine visible in the space right above them lighting up probably thousands of little dust particles in the air. Blaine asked himself when too soon would turn into long enough, the answer to his question landing softly, sweetly, on his lips. Carefully, Blaine responded to the kiss.

"I'm sorry… I shouldn't have." Suddenly Puck's face was barely an inch away.

"Yes… yes you should have." They kissed again.

Later, Puck dropped Blaine off at his apartment. They didn't say much, but they also didn't feel like they needed to.

Blaine was reaching to open the car door when he heard a voice behind his head. "Do you want to go to a movie or something with me next week?" He looked back at Puck.

"Yeah. Sure." A warm smile on his lips. They kissed again. "See you later Puck."

"See you."

* * *

"Seriously Blaine, like a little schoolgirl."

"Shut up. Puck just texted me."

"Ah, the boyfriend."

"He's not my boyfriend… yet."

"You want him to be?"

"Of course I want him to be, even you would admit that he's insanely good looking. And really nice, most importantly."

"Yeah sure, really nice. But see, you're forgetting one crucial aspect. What if he's not into absurdly short guys?"

"Shut up Cooper… he's into me just fine."

"Oh little brother, don't tell me you're giving it up already after just a couple of coffees?"

"No we just… kissed. Wait, why the hell am I even having this conversation with you?"

"Because, and I mean this with all honesty, I believe you have proven with your track record of men that you obviously can't always be trusted with who you choose to jump into the sheets with."

"Seriously. Shut. Up."

"When are you going to introduce us."

"Soon enough."

"And what do you mean by that?

"By that I mean never, obviously."

"Then how am I supposed to judge if even I admit he's insanely good looking?"

"Soon enough."

"Cigarette?"

"No thanks, I'm good."

"Suit yourself."

* * *

"So my brother is forcing me to go see the new Spider Man with him and his fiancée this weekend, want to come? I know you wanted to see it too and Cooper is going to kill me if I cancel on him again."

"Yeah, sounds like a plan. Just text me the details."

"Awesome. Then I'll see you Saturday"

"See you then."

* * *

Cooper seemed impressed upon meeting Puck, whispering a "Fine… I admit it" when the paramedic went off to get popcorn for him and Blaine, resulting in Becca shooting him a puzzled look. At some point during the movie Puck had put his arm around Blaine's shoulders, who in turn had to think to himself that this might possibly be one of the most romantic moments of his life.

Afterwards Cooper tried to coerce everyone to go out for a drink, something he apparently was successful in doing as Blaine found himself three beers later giggling at almost every single thing Puck said.

"Well, that has to be my last one, got an early shift tomorrow." Puck turned to Blaine, making his voice a little smaller. "Do you want to come over for a bit?"

Blaine swallowed, first looking up to see if Cooper had heard which, judging by the mischievous gleam in his eyes, of course he had, then deciding that he really didn't care what anybody else thought at the moment. "Yeah, I'd like that."

The two couples went their separate ways after saying goodbyes and soon Blaine found himself for the second time standing in Puck's apartment.

"Want a beer or something?"

"Sure, maybe just one. Thanks." Puck went into the kitchen returning with two open beer bottles, and Blaine felt secretly happy that Puck also seemed to feel the need for another drink because for some reason Blaine felt terribly nervous. They sat down on the sofa.

Puck put the stereo on and Blaine drank almost half his beer in one go.

"So did your bed arrive yet?"

"No, not yet. Next week though, or at least it's supposed to."

"Damn. Still sleeping on that mattress on the floor? How's your back?"

"Pretty bad actually… and the stupid chairs at work aren't exactly helping."

Puck looked down at the bottle in his hands. "I can massage it if you like… I'm actually really good at that." He was scratching at the damp label.

Blaine swallowed. Hard. "Yeah… sure."

"Then turn around." Puck took their bottles and put them on the coffee table as Blaine proceeded to turn his back towards Puck on the couch.

The hands rubbing out the knots in his shoulders felt unreal, but they were even better once they had moved to his sides. His heart was beating incredibly fast, and he could tell Puck's face was just behind him as he decided to turn his own just slightly.

They kissed, Puck now with one hand on Blaine's back and the other on his chest. After sitting like that for what felt like forever, although most likely it was something closer to a couple of minutes, Puck broke it off, breathing heavily.

"Bedroom?"

Blaine could only nod, before being led to the proposed destination where they ended up landing in a pile on the bed, more hands now than ever before. Blaine started unbuttoning his shirt as Puck slid out of his t-shirt, shoes and socks already long gone. A careful hand made its way to rest on Blaine's backside, who heard an incredibly hot moan in his ear as the hand not so carefully gave it a squeeze. Soon he was on his hands and knees, Puck's hands on his hips as he heard a voice behind his ear. "Ready?" once again all Blaine could do was nod.

It hurt a little bit, it had been a while, but soon it only felt unbelievingly good. There was a moan against Blaine's neck and he had to let out a whimper as he grabbed onto the headboard with one hand for support.

"Does it feel good?" The voice was there again, words between heavy bouts of air, and for once Blaine had to give into the realization that this time it was for real. A hand was stroking the small of his back.

"Yeah…"

Later, Blaine drifted off to sleep comforted by the sound of Puck's heart beating heavily against his back, a hot breath gently tickling the small hairs on his neck.

It really did feel good.

* * *

"Blaine." A hand shook his shoulder. "Wake up…"

Blaine blinked his eyes to the sight of Puck standing by the bed, a towel around his hips and a sort of humorous look on his face.

"Sorry, I didn't want to wake you but I just wanted to tell you that I have to go soon. You can stay here and sleep if you want and just leave when you feel like it."

"No, it's ok. I'm up." Blaine sat up on the bed, suddenly a little self-conscious at his naked state under the covers.

"Ok, I'm just going to hop under the shower. There's coffee in the kitchen."

"Alright, thanks." Once Puck had left Blaine scattered around the room picking up his clothes and got ready, having a cup of coffee by the time Puck emerged dressed from the bathroom into the kitchen.

"I have some cereal in the cupboard if you want."

"Thanks, but I'm good."

"Ready to leave? If we go now I can drop you off at home."

"Are you sure? You really don't have to."

Puck smiled at him. "Maybe I want to?"

"Ok, but…" Blaine's sentence was interrupted by a mouth on his, followed by warm hands on his cheeks.

"Last night was good, wasn't it?"

Blaine smiled into the mouth that was back on top of his. "Yeah, really good."

* * *

Cooper eyed Blaine carefully. "Don't you think it's time to talk to like, a professional or something about what you went through?"

Blaine shot him a look. "Don't you think there should be less talking and more assembling going on right now?" He looked back at the instruction booklet for his new bed. "Why would I need professional help, I'm fine now and I have Puck. You know, behind every cloud is a silver lining and all of that."

"Maybe because you as far as I know haven't talked to a single person about it and because it probably was quite an ordeal." Cooper fiddled around with the screws in his hand while trying to figure out which one it was that he needed. "You know that you can talk to me, but you don't. I just think you should talk to someone." He decided on the slightly bent screw. "Also Puck asked me if you were seeing someone."

Blaine looked a bit taken aback. "Why would he ask you that?"

"Oh I don't know, maybe because he cares about you and wants to make sure you guys get off on a fresh, healthy start." Apparently the slightly bent one was also the wrong one. "Just think about it."

"Fine, I'll think about it. Now hand me over those screws, you obviously have no idea what you're doing."

* * *

"When did the abuse first start?"

"When we moved in together, I think. Yeah."

"It's not uncommon for abusers to be able to firmly keep their undesirable traits under wraps until you're so involved that it can be perceived as being too late."

"Something like that."

"Did you feel unsafe at home?"

"I guess so, but I didn't really notice that until I moved out."

"Did you grow up in an abusive household?"

"No violence, nothing out of the ordinary discipline stuff when we were growing up. But when my dad had to face the fact that I was gay, he was never really nice to me again. I was pretty bullied in school but he never seemed to care. I have a brother though, he's a bit older than me and he always looked out for of me."

"And your mother?"

"She died when I was very young. Car accident. I don't even know if I remember what she looked like or if I just know that from looking at pictures. My dad remarried once I went off to college, but we don't have any relationship with his new family."

"Do you ever talk to your father today?"

"Actually he died a couple of months ago, but I talked to him very rarely before he passed. He didn't really want to and that kind of made me not want to. I guess. He didn't care. He never cared."

"And what was your reaction to his passing?"

"I didn't really have one. We didn't go to the funeral."

"Then I think we should talk about that. Blaine?"

"Sorry there… There was a bird sitting on the windowsill just now. It was kind of staring right at me."

"Tell me about your father."

* * *

"Blaine… You never told me that your dad died."

"I didn't? Well anyway, we talked a lot about that…"

"I'm so sorry." Puck hugged Blaine where they stood in his kitchen, Blaine suddenly pressed into Puck's chest.

"No it's fine. And if it isn't then I'm sure me and my therapist will get to the bottom of it." He smiled up towards the slightly taller man.

"Blaine, I wanted to ask you… I'm taking a long weekend sometime next month to go visit my mom in Ohio. Do you want to come with me?"

Blaine's smile grew wider. "And meet your mom?"

"Well yeah, that too. And also I haven't been back in a while. It's nice to go back sometimes, you know?"

"Sure, yeah I'm sure."

"Aren't you going to be late?"

"Yeah, I should go. When is your shift over?"

"Around seven in the morning I think?"

"I'll meet you at the hospital and we can go get breakfast?"

"Definitely."

* * *

"Blaine! You made it." Sam pushed a beer into his hands as Blaine entered the bar. "Where's Puck?"

"He has to work early in the morning. I can't stay out too long either."

Sam flashed him a smile. "Things are pretty good I take it, merely judging from the fact that you're not only wearing one of his t-shirts but also his jacket."

"My stuff wasn't exactly bar attire…"

"Sure. Come on, say hi to the guys."

The next day Blaine had just arrived at the doors to the ER clinic when an ambulance pulled up, a familiar figure jumping out of the driver's seat.

"Look who's right on time." Puck smiled at Blaine and gave him a kiss on the forehead.

"You are insanely hot right now." Blaine took in his boyfriend's green wear, feeling a little flustered. "Were your arms always this big?"

"There's a lot of heavy lifting in my line of work." Puck chuckled, sipping on a PET bottle of water he had just grabbed from under the seat of his vehicle.

"How about we pop into the back of this thing and you can show me some heavy lifting?"

"Yeah sure, if your teacher's salary will be enough to support us both once I'm fired for getting caught screwing my boyfriend in my ambulance."

Blaine's cheeks were flushed. "Great, now I can't stop thinking about it."

"I'll take care of you later." Puck gave him a wink. "I promise. Now come on, I'm dying to eat something that hasn't been pre-packed in the hospital cafeteria." He draped one of those big arms around Blaine's shoulders. "And you don't look so bad in that jacket yourself."

* * *

"My long lost son has finally returned to me!"

"I think that's enough motherly love for one hug..."

"And who's this handsome young man?"

"Mom, this is Blaine. My boyfriend. Unfortunately he's not Jewish but I decided that he'd have to do."

Blaine was ushered into a kitchen in Lima, Ohio.

"Hi Blaine, it's so good to meet you!" Another hug full of motherly love.

"Blaine, this is my mom, Victoria. Ok mom, that's enough. You're smothering him, let him breathe."

"Why do you look familiar?"

"Puck and I actually went to high school together. But we just met again, a couple of months ago."

"See honey, that's faith."

"Yeah, sure ma."

"Puck, why don't you take your bags up to your old room. Blaine can help me brew some coffee."

Later in the evening the three of them sat around the kitchen table enjoying conversation, the food Puck's mother had spent half of the afternoon preparing, and perhaps a couple of too many glasses of wine.

"Well boys, think it's time for me to turn in. You can stay up as long as you want, won't bother me the least." She stood up and started gathering the finished plates, followed by Puck rushing to her side taking them from her hands. "Mom, don't clean up, I'll do this."

She smiled at her son. "Then let's just finish up tomorrow. There's more wine in the pantry, good night you two." And with that she was out the door.

"She's awesome." Blaine smiled at Puck.

"Do you want more wine?"

"I want to see your room."

They were up the stairs before Puck could answer.

"I can't believe you're in my bed." Puck was alternating between kissing Blaine and gently sucking along his collarbone between words. "I used to dream of having you here."

"Oh you don't even want to know what I used to dream about doing with you in your room. As a matter of fact, it looks eerily similar to some of my fantasies."

"Tell me…" More kissing.

"No… you tell me."

"Ok…" Puck was trailing a hand up Blaine's side, pulling his t-shirt up in the process. Blaine helped pull it off his head. "Let's see… There's you on your knees in front of me as I lean back against the door… You right here with your face in the pillow, moaning my name as I fuck you into the mattress… Me sucking you off…" Puck's hand was in the front of Blaine's pants. "Your turn…"

Blaine whimpered. "Mine are basically just slight variations of those… Fuck…"

"Tell me…" Clothes kept coming off of both of them.

"You let me suck on your fingers until, until they're all wet…" Blaine nearly lost his breath between the words and kisses, almost ashamed at how turned on he was. "And then you turn me over and you fuck me with them, whispering behind my ear…"

"What am I saying..?" Their clothes were off now and Puck let his hands travel down Blaine's back, squeezing and grabbing once he found what he was looking for.

"That I… I've been really bad..."

Puck let out a hot moan as he squeezed a little harder. "Oh… have you now..?"

"Yeah… And that, you're going to fuck me so hard… Because I deserve it. But you're going to make me beg for it…" Blaine felt two fingers on his lips.

"I think that one's my favorite, let's do that one…"

"Ok…"

* * *

"Are you ready?"

"Yeah. I think so." Blaine stood at the gates of the cemetery in his hometown, afraid of what taking the step necessary to get inside would mean. Puck took a hold of his hand, and suddenly he decided that he wasn't so afraid anymore.

"Let's go."

Blaine had a pretty good hunch of where he needed to go after asking the man in the church as he walked hurriedly, almost losing his breath; the big tree to the left of the hill from this direction. And there, above the slightly frost bitten grass shielded by the light from heavy branches it was.

'John Anderson.'

Blaine just looked at the grey tombstone trying to decipher what was written on there through the instant fog in his eyes.

'Loving father and husband.'

And in that moment Blaine had never felt his heart so heavy before.

"Baby…" a big hand was stroking his back, up and down his spine as he felt the damp ground soak through his jeans clad knees, almost as wet as his cheeks.

"That's all I ever wanted, you know. For him to love me." Blaine cried on the cold grass under a grey Ohio sky. "Why couldn't he love me…" Arms were embracing him now, slowly rocking with him back and forth while managing to keep a somewhat steadying hold.

"Baby, it's ok. I love you… Cooper loves you, all of your friends love you."

"But I want my dad to love me. Why couldn't he love me?"

"Shh… I know, I know."

"I should have come back before, maybe he could have changed his mind."

"You did everything right babe… Dads are overrated, you didn't need him."

A whisper. "But I wanted him…"

"I know."

They spent an hour sitting there on the ground, and in between Blaine's tears and hitched breathing and Puck's comforting sweet little nothings they barely noticed when it began to rain.

Puck stood up, offering a hand. "Let's go back to the car, you'll get sick."

"I don't care…"

"Come on." Puck tried on a smile, stroking the back of Blaine's cold, wet head.

"I care."

Blaine looked up at that, attempting to blink away the raindrops and tears caught in his heavy lashes.

Puck could barely make out his words. "Thank you."

Twigs shook in the tree as a bird stretched out its wings, letting its little bird feet let go of a branch.

"Of course I care about you."

Blaine took the offering hand, managing to stand on shaky legs and kept holding it as they walked on wet gravel back to the car parked outside just as much as Puck was holding onto his. A ray of sunlight peeked through the dark clouds almost blinding his vision for a moment, distracting him from his tears that had finally started to subside.

It warmed his heavy heart and Puck held his hand just a little tighter.

Somewhere in the sky above, a bird flew towards a silver lining.

**_FIN_**


End file.
